Cyprus appoints judges to probe economic crash

NICOSIA, Cyprus Cyprus' president has appointed a panel of three former supreme court judges to investigate how the country ended up nearly bankrupt.

President Nicos Anastasiades said Tuesday that ordinary citizens who are shouldering the burden of "actions and omissions" by officials want to see those responsible punished.

Anastasiades urged the judges to kick off their probe by investigating his family's business dealings amid an accusation in an opposition newspaper that a company that is said to be co-owned by one of his relatives took money out of Cyprus' now defunct second-largest lender, Laiki, days before the country agreed to a 16 billion euros ($20.5 billion) international rescue.

Under the terms of the bailout with its euro area partners and the International Monetary Fund, big depositors in Laiki are facing big losses.